No Tragedy for Greek Theater

On Sunday August 9, 2015, Lefteris Karagiannopoulous published an article about how the debt crisis has not affected people’s attendance in Greek Theater. The ancient Greek amphitheatre’s have been filled to capacity. Karagiannopoulous quotes a student Greece who said, “I have reduced my spending on cinema, drinking, and parties but I still haven’t cut down on theater. It is part of our national pride; we can achieve ‘catharsis’ through it and this is why we need it today.” Karagiannopoulous then tells us the meaning of catharsis, it means cleansing doesn’t come without sacrifice. Nikos Chatzopoulos, general secretary of the Actors’ Union says that the theatre is continuing to grow but that should not hide the fact that many actors and actresses are underpaid, especially the young ones. Karagiannopoulous gives statistics on actors, “Unemployment among actors has reached a whopping 92%.” A ticket to the theatre used to cost between 20 to 40 euros and now costs between 10 to 25 euros. Even though the theatre district in Greece is struggling many people feel it is crucial to actually go to theatre because it is so important to teh culture. Karagiannopoulous quotes one of the most famous actors in Greece, Giannis Zouganelis, “People need to feel human, if Athens doesn’t put on many plays, who would? The Dutch? They produce tulips, cows. What we produce is theater.” The people of Greece turn to theatre as a distraction from the turmoil around them. Next season there will be approximately 1,000 plays performed.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/09/us-eurozone-greece-theatre-idUSKCN0QE09S20150809

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